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Time for a change
Posted: Thursday March 09, 2000 05:27 PM
Change is good as far as Formula One is concerned. And the quicker the change the better. The 2000 season, which is set to get underway this weekend in Melbourne Australia, set to begin with one new team, and only four of the ten teams that competed last season fielding an unaltered driving line-up.
Among the most controversial changes in personnel has come at Williams, where Alex Zanardi has been replaced by the 20-year-old Brit, Jensen Button. Not that the departure of Zanardi is in any way controversial, as his season was one best forgotten. Instead, it's the meteoric rise of Mr. Button that's raised a few eyebrows, with some people, Sauber's Mika Salo and Mclaren's Mika Hakkinen reportedly among them, claiming that a two-year gap between racing karts and getting behind the wheel of a lean mean Formula One machine is just not long enough. Personally I adhere to the old adage they use in football, "If you're good enough, you're old enough." Formula One needs its personalities, and a young gun like Jensen can only be good for the sport, provided his youth doesn't equate with recklessness that could endanger the lives of others. Nothing so far has suggested it will. While Williams have a new Button, Ferrari's bid for a first driver's title in 21 years will rely on a more seasoned campaigner. As ever, Michael Schumacher will begin the season as favorite to end McLaren's two-year domination. According to the Italian hierarchy, Schumacher will start the season on equal footing with his new driving partner Rubens Barrichello.
Of course that kind of prediction is a burden the two-time former World Champion is used to, and he does tend to deal with all the speculation surrounding his racing life in a philosophical manner. For instance, on the topic of dying in a crash, a question sparked by his accident at the British Grand Prix last year, he had this to say to the German media. "If it happens, it happens. You can't protect yourself from it. That's my view. My life has been pre-determined." However I can't help wondering how great he might be if the expectations of him were not always quite so high. That situation isn't going to change of course. Not for Schumacher at least. Strangely though that's not the case for the two-time reigning champion, Mika Hakkinen, who will again start the season without the burden of expectation. According to the leading bookmakers, the flying Finn is somehow only worthy second-billing to the German, despite his incredible success. Can Hakkinen become the first driver since Juan-Manuel Fangio in the 1950's to claim three successive titles? Well it's always hard to tell with the inscrutable Finn isn't it. He certainly has the wheels to do it. But when you hear him telling the media that his McLaren teammate, David Coulthard, is the man to watch this season, it's hard to decide whether he's genuinely lacking in confidence or whether he's simply playing possum. If his face ever changed its expression of course, we might have more of a clue of course. One man who definitely wears his heart on his sleeve is Eddie Irvine. Last year's runner-up in the driver's championship has lost none of his edge since moving from Ferrari to the new boys of Jaguar, claiming that by the end of the season he's expecting to see only Ferrari and McLaren in front of him. That's a typically brash prediction from Eddie, and pays one of his former teams, Jordan, no respect at all in a year when they again expect to challenge the big guns. However he is a proven fighter by nature, and if Jaguar can provide the power, he certainly has the talent and the guts to make a stand. Finally, for the first time since 1991, the Formula One circus will return to the United States this season. The 15th race of the season is set to take place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 24th. Will the Americans take to the sport this time round? Well, they're not exactly known for embracing sports that are compulsive viewing everywhere else in the world, as devotees of soccer will know. There's also the fact that by contrast to their home-grown sport of NASCAR, Formula One can seem a bit pedestrian, with some Americans I've spoken to saying it's too much of a procession to be interesting. All the same, while Formula One may lack the often artificially engineered tightness of a NASCAR race, F-1 Grand Prix's are without doubt big occasions. And with America's love for the show business side of sports, the United States Grand Prix may be more fondly embraced than many people predict. Here's hoping so anyway.
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